Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Is new "Legal" ivory a good idea?

I saw this article today, and didn't find any reference to it yet here. Interesting.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2013/jun/07/bechstein-piano-new-ivory-intolerable

From what I have heard, the new ivory that is documented as legal should be OK, having come from already dead animals. But I have also heard from others that the animals are already dead because poachers killed them, and the documentation is somehow faked.

There is also mammoth ivory and cattle bone for use on keytops, which certainly does no harm to the elephants.

Don Mannino RPT

I don't know about the legalities, but playing on dead animal parts gives me the creeps. That was one of the many reasons I hated playing my cousins old 1896 Steinway.

Ivory was never a good idea. It was better than what else was available, until it was not any more.

Totally agree

For piano restoration or repair, legal ivory's a good idea, especially if the piano has many keys with the ivory chipped off, but not enough to fully justify a full recovering. For new pianos, maybe if you want. I've never had any qualms about playing on ivory keyboards, except when they're brittle or look like someone peed on them.

Personally, I'd actually be interested in seeing a mother of pearl piano keyboard. That would look pretty awesome, but I'm not too sure how that'd feel or how durable it'd be.

Abalone are endangered species, too.

Hi Don,

If you deal with a trusted broker, you can rest easy that "art ivory" is being used. This is not ivory taken from carcasses, it is ivory taken from art, trophies, or other such long dead animals.

One exceptional trophy could yield many ivory keyboards and, in a weird way, is a healthy re-purposing of a relic from a day when an elephant on your wall was sign that you were well traveled, tough, ... and wealthy.

Sure, paperwork can still be faked, but a registration number cannot be faked. It can be checked if you have any doubts.

Bottom line - know who you do business with.

My 2 cents,

Having said that, requests for new genuine ivory are getting rarer and rarer.

In what part of the country? Not down here, its grown, harvested we sell it by the can and export to all over the world.

Not sure it would look good for piano keys tho

Cattle, Elk and Bison Bone when polished are excelent stand ins for ivory.

In the end it will be about the market for Ivory. So long as someone wants to buy it someone will be willing to provide it. That created the motive and economic oportunity to try and launder illegal ivory. Illegal ivory won't stop untill the value of the ivory is lower than some more desireabel alternative.

Unfortunately Pianos are a tiny fraction of the demand for ivory. Many eastern and Mid East cultures use alot of it. And so Like Rhino horns market value will be expected to increase as scarcity increases. Basicaly fewer elephants the more incentive to get the ivory... till it's gone. prices can rise parabolicaly. When you are an African villager or farmer with 3 beans to your name it isnt' realy your fault that 1 tusk can feed your family for several years and they are something of a pest!

Mammoth ivory is fairly plentiful but must be gotten here from Eastern Europe and former Soviet countries. Most is stained brown from time. What little is white again creates the opportunity for trying to launder the illegal stuff.

My advice, if you care about elephants don't buy ANY ivory and ridicule those that do. If you must have a natural product then go for cow bone. But elk, moose and bison will be denser and finer grained and as such possibly easier to clean. You can get the raw bleached bones at moscow hide and fur. There may be companies that make bone keytops.

Making keytops from tusks must be highly wasteful. Unless there is a way to press it flat the flats must be cut from round sections. You could order few bison scapulas, hips and leg bones and probably make out well.

Yes, cow tibia is currently available for keytops.

Top pianists don't care about these things.

They're too busy playing and enchanting audiences...

Norbert

Legal or not, our sensibilities should be directed towards non-animal, sustainable products. I find the new Ivolan (mineral)keytops to be very nice to play on.

If mineral based keytops work well, how about long term durability.

I'm not in any hurry, but I want one of those!

The only reason they might not care is they have no choice so in that sense it is not an issue. The tactile feel is very important to any pianist beyond an elementary level. If this was not the case all makers would used the cheapest kind of plastic, like the kind on the least expensive digitals, for their white keys.

I agree! They are very nice.

I have ivory on my Petrof and compared with the plastic caps on my Yamaha, I really enjoy the ivory more. There is some grip to it. Now I did play on a Roland that had a simulated ivory feel and I liked that as well. So as long as there is that rip feel and not slipperiness I'm fine with whatever product. If one of my ivory caps broke on the Petrof, I'd want to replace it with something close to the look and feel of the other keys, but I would look into alternatives to ivory.

I have a much better idea. How about keys made from the teeth and bones of executed poachers? Maybe that would stop the senseless slaughter of these magnificent animals for the pleasure of man.

I actually heard that elephants are beginning to evolve away from having large ivory tusks, due to excessive poaching. So in the future, it's quite likely that new ivory will be not just illegal but downright impossible to get.